The Treatment Advocacy Center (www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org) is a national nonprofit dedicated to eliminating barriers to the timely and effective treatment of severe mental illnesses.
TAC promotes laws, policies, and practices for the delivery of psychiatric care and supports the development of innovative treatments for and research into the causes of severe and persistent psychiatric illnesses, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Homeless shelters are the new mental health facilities

Roughly 150,000 to 200,000 individuals with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder are homeless. In the absence of psychiatric hospitals, homeless shelters are yet another example - along with jails and prisons- of today’s “mental hospitals”.

Out on the streets, people with mental illness and addiction problems are guaranteed neither a home, food, health nor safety.

As [Dennis] Marble [executive director of the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter] and many others see it, the morphing of the homeless shelter into what Marble calls an "underfunded mental health facility" is one of the unintended consequences of the "downsizing" of the state’s mental health institutions, including Bangor Mental Health Institute, now known as the Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center.

A major complaint of the critics of deinstitutionalization was that adequate community resources were not put into place to support patients after their release. As a result, many did and still do wind up in homeless shelters or jails, which are increasingly hard-pressed to house them adequately.

"I look at some of the folks who come here and it’s pure and simple — they can’t [fend for themselves]," Marble said. "And for me to say the right thing for them is to live their lives in this shelter and that’s their choice? That ends up ringing hollow really fast."

About Me

The Treatment Advocacy Center (www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org) is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating barriers to the timely and effective treatment of severe mental illnesses. TAC promotes laws, policies, and practices for the delivery of psychiatric care and supports the development of innovative treatments for and research into the causes of severe and persistent psychiatric illnesses, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
The American Psychiatric Association honored TAC for "extraordinary advocacy."
TAC president Dr. E. Fuller Torrey: "Until we find the causes and definitive treatments for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, we have an obligation to those who are suffering to try to improve their lives. TAC is the only organization willing to take on this fight, and I am very proud to be part of it."